Metal Successfully Hits Asteroid Ryugu in Hayabusa2 Mission

Sagamihara, Kanagawa Pref., April 5 (Jiji Press)--A copper plate shot from an impactor separated from Japan's unmanned space probe Hayabusa2 successfully collided with the asteroid Ryugu on Friday. The operation was carried out as part of the world's first experiment, conducted by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, to study an asteroid and collect samples by making an artificial crater on it. With images captured by a small camera unit released separately from Hayabusa2, JAXA confirmed that what appeared to be sand blew off from the surface of Ryugu at the scheduled time of the copper plate's collision with the asteroid. JAXA is checking whether a crater was opened on Ryugu as planned. "We've established a new space exploration method," JAXA project manager Yuichi Tsuda told a news conference in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo. "This success is nothing short of what we wanted." In the Ryugu probe mission, JAXA plans to collect observation data and samples that would be useful to better understand the histories of the solar system and asteroids. The mission may also help develop a planetary defense system to avoid an asteroid collision with Earth. On Thursday afternoon, Hayabusa2 started descending toward Ryugu from its home position 20 kilometers above the asteroid. It separated the impactor just before 11 a.m. Friday (2 a.m. GMT) at an altitude of some 500 meters. An explosive device in the impactor to shoot the 2.5-kilogram copper plate was ignited about 40 minutes after the separation. Hayabusa2 moved behind Ryugu before the detonation. Substances that blew off from the asteroid reached as high as several tens of meters above the ground, according to JAXA. "It is highly likely that a crater was made," said Kobe University Prof. Masahiko Arakawa, who is in charge of scientific observations in the Hayabusa2 mission. Hayabusa2 is scheduled to land in or near the crater as early as May, collect substances dislodged by the impactor and bring back the samples to Earth at the end of 2020. The spacecraft is set to leave Ryugu in November or December this year. END